open shooting permit

Old-Salt

I would like to have permission to shoot a .22 on my own and other people's land around my house, the nearest house in the angle of fire is over 2km away and is on a rise above where I would be shooting, the nearest footpath is also an equal distance away.

Will I be able to get said permit and what is the procdure for gaining this permit, also what other calibres could I get allowed in this situation.

LE

Do do what you wsih, you need to apply to your Local Constabulary for a Variation to your FAC for a .22 for 'Vermin Control'. It will need to contain an address and description of the land that you wish to shoot over. If you do not own any or part of that land you will need to enclose written permission of any other Land Owners.

The Variation, if granted, will either have a condition restricting you to certain land or land 'Which the local Chief Officer of Police has agreed is suitable.' (Or some such ramblings.) You are unlikely to get an Open Certificate (meaning you can shoot anywhere that you have permission) right away. For designated land, you don't need an 'OPEN Certificate' anyway.[

Old-Salt

Beerhunter is correct in what he is saying. Where is your land authority to use the three rifles already possessed, surely it would be easier to apply for the .22 on this area adding the additional ground, i.e yours?

However, you say that you doubt that you can use a shotgun on the ground. If this is the case you will struggle for authority as if the land isn't suitable for shotguns then it is unlikely to be suitable for a .22

No offence, but I would can the .22 and advise no. 6 with 32 gram load for the pheasant, preferably when they are flying!!

War Hero

Do do what you wsih, you need to apply to your Local Constabulary for a Variation to your FAC for a .22 for 'Vermin Control'. It will need to contain an address and description of the land that you wish to shoot over. If you do not own any or part of that land you will need to enclose written permission of any other Land Owners.

The Variation, if granted, will either have a condition restricting you to certain land or land 'Which the local Chief Officer of Police has agreed is suitable.' (Or some such ramblings.) You are unlikely to get an Open Certificate (meaning you can shoot anywhere that you have permission) right away. For designated land, you don't need an 'OPEN Certificate' anyway.[

Thanks for that most useful reply, BH, as it has saved me a lot of homework. My poor old Mum rang me tonight at her wits end, because some chav two houses away down the street is sitting in his back garden - in a normal suburban road in Merseyside - shooting pigeons with a .22 rifle. Said pigeons are then found in everyone else's garden, with at least seven reported in the last week alone and he's been doing it for months. This would indicate that the guy was firing over other people's property to get them.
I was planning on going round there when I'm up visiting, have a quiet word with him and possibly a few noisy ones if he tries to get gobby. Think I'll just report him to plod now instead.

Swinger

As beerhunter says, stick in a variation just as you would for another target gun, but make your reason for ownership "vermin control".

Include written permission from the landowner to show you have somewhere to shoot, and (if you have them) things like proof of insurance/BASC membership, which whilst not necesary, will show you to be a responsible shooter, and help move things on reasonably quickly.
It is unlikely you will get an open condition straight away if this is your first non-target gun. But if you only want to shoot on this land of your friends, being limited to that patch isn't an issue.

For pheasant, definitely go the shotgun route. Get a coterminous Shotgun Certificate - it doesn't cost much more than just having your FAC. You don't have slots, don't need to show "good reason", and SGCs are automatically open, so you can take your Sec. 2 shotgun and go shoot anywhere you have permission, whereas for Sec. 1 you would have to get land cleared for it until such a time as you got your certificate opened up for it.

Slightly_Nasty said:

Said pigeons are then found in everyone else's garden, with at least seven reported in the last week alone and he's been doing it for months. This would indicate that the guy was firing over other people's property to get them.
I was planning on going round there when I'm up visiting, have a quiet word with him and possibly a few noisy ones if he tries to get gobby. Think I'll just report him to plod now instead.

Just report him. Get some photos of the birds where they have fallen if you can.
It is an absolute offence for rounds to leave the boundary of the property over which you have permission to shoot.
No excuses, if you're taking a shot you ensure you know where the round is going and what backstop it will hit if the target is missed. This guy clearly isn't.
If he's shooting them out if trees that's even worse. A .22lr round could easily go straight through a pigeon and being shot up in the air like that, will continue for some distance. Incredibly hazardous.

Are you sure it's a .22 rimfire, not an air rifle? One would have thought live fire in a back garden would have attracted Police attention by now. Still illegal if air pellets are leaving the boundaries, but slightly safer when shot up in the air than .22lr, not that that's any excuse.

Furthermore, even though some pigeon species are on the Natural England General Licence (or DEFRA, or the Env. Agency or whoever issues it these days), it's for protection of crops and things like that, and shooting is only permitted where other forms of control are ineffective or not practicable.

I would contend that someone shooting pigeons in the back garden(s) would struggle to argue that the general licence is valid in their circumstances unless the birds are damaging the buildings due to extraordinarily high population density or similar, in which case trapping and a few cats would likely be more suitable in a built-up area!

War Hero

Cheers, Hemmers. No, from the description, this is definitely .22 rimfire. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against shooting, in fact I wouldn't mind taking it up myself because I used to enjoy range days more than most when I was in. However, whilst I have no problem with shooting game for food, I find the thought of this chav sat in his back garden blasting away at anything just for the hell of it objectionable. He clearly has no idea about weapon safety, and is upsetting a lot of other people.

LE

You need to get this idea of a 'permit' out of your head. There is no such thing. In the case of Section One Firearms there is only the FAC and 'Conditions' on that FAC.

For example you have a 5.56 mm Rifle on the Condition that it is used on Approved Ranges. There is no way on earth that you will be allowed to 'plink' with it on a piece of land that is not an Approved Range. If you had a Condition that said you could hunt (in its several forms) with it, you could hunt AND zero it under suitable circumstances.

Similarly if your Section One Shotguns have a Condition limiting them to Practical Shotgun (You haven't said what your 'good reason' was for them.), in order to use them for Vermin Control you would need a Variation inserting that Condition on your FAC.